Venezuela: a rebadged Fiat could see the light

This is how the rebadged Fiat Siena could look in Venezuela under Dodge brand. Illustration by Autosblog.com.ar

According to Chrysler executives in Venezuela, the company is getting prepared for a ‘new’ B-Segment car. Human Resources director for Chrysler Venezuela, Mr. Wilfredo Trejo, said the company has already invested $47 million to adapt their factory to the production of the new model. The car, that may be called Dodge Forza, will be available from the beginning of 2013 but is not clear if it will be available outside Venezuela. Based on information from that country and Argentina, the Forza will be based completely in the first generation Fiat Siena, still available in South America. Both brands, Chrysler and Fiat, have always had an important market share in Venezuela. Last year Chrysler 9.245 passenger cars, from which 4.692 were Jeep Grand Cherokee, 2.926 Jeep Cherokee and 1.807 Dodge Caliber. Fiat, which used to be one of top 3 best-selling car makers, sold 1.281 Siena and 318 Palio*. The brand was severely affected by restrictions on imports, but the Argentinean Siena was selected as one of the models to be directly imported by the government. Chrysler has an assembly plant in Valencia and makes the Grand Cherokee, Cherokee, and Caliber, while Fiat closed its plant in late 1990’s as Brazilian product was more competitive. In 2011 more than 105.000 passenger cars were sold in Venezuela, from which 37% were ‘B-Segment’ cars, 21,5% ‘C-Segment’ and 19% were all types of pickups. The market reached its top in 2007 when more than 492.000 new cars were sold.